On October 30, 1991, the so-called "perfect storm" gathered strength in the North Atlantic, producing waves up to 30 metres high along the north-east coasts of the US and Canada. Over the next several days, the storm spread over the seas off the coast of Canada. The fishing boat Andrea Gail and its six-man crew perished in the giant waves.
(US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Meteorologists monitoring the storm were alerted when it made a highly unusual transition into a hurricane. But US authorities decided not to name the storm for fear it would trigger public panic. The "Perfect Storm", also known as the "Halloween Storm" left 13 people dead and damage costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
(US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Orson Welles's radio dramatisation of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds was broadcast in the United States on October 30, 1938, causing mass panic.
The broadcast about a fictional martian invasion was mistaken for a real alien attack by listeners, causing public hysteria. An estimated 12 million Americans tuned into the broadcast of the narrated play. Phone lines became jammed as alarmed listeners tried to call police to find out information.
Welles later told reporters he only realised the impact half way through the broadcast when he noticed police officers in the CBS studio where the drama was being performed. The biggest explosion in human history took place when Soviet Russia dropped the Tsar Bomba nuclea.